Women veterans in Orange County to benefit from community safety net designed to improve transition to civilian life

COSTA MESA, CA, December 12, 2012 – Vanguard University (VU), a regionally ranked, private, Christian university of liberal arts and professional studies, announced today that its Global Center for Women & Justice (GCWJ), in tandem with its Veterans Resource Center (VRC), is a recipient of the Employees Community Fund of Boeing California’s 2012 Crystal Vision Awards. The grant was presented at a luncheon ceremony hosted by the Board of the Employees Community Fund of Boeing California (ECF) at the Long Beach Marriott on Friday, Dec. 7, 2012.

According to the ECF, the purpose of the 2012 grant fund was to engender creativity and innovation in bolstering a nonprofit organization’s ability to provide services to veterans as they transition from military service to civilian life and employment. Being able to effectively remove the barriers to this transition is a key focus of the grant requirement.

Female veterans at risk twice as much as male counterparts
As more women join the military than any other time in history, they are sharing a greater portion of combat deployments. In Orange County alone, there are more than 9,600 women veterans. This number continues to increase as more Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) Veterans transition out of the military. In transitioning out of military life, women return to a support system that is primarily focused on males and has been slow to adapt to the unique challenges that face women veterans.

“Accepting the Employees Community Fund award for the launch of the OC Women Veterans Network was especially moving,” says Sandra Morgan, director of GCWJ. “The Boeing employees who attended, many of whom are veterans, are already making a difference through community. That’s the kind of community that will be at the foundation of our vision to grow a sustainable network that connects resources from private and public sectors to improve opportunity, access, and achievement for our women veterans living in Orange County.”

Education as a path to seamless transition
Many OIF/OEF Veterans are using higher education as a transition platform due to the excellent benefits provided under the Post 9/11 GI Bill. As a full Yellow Ribbon university, Vanguard student veterans benefit financially from additional programs designed to prepare them for transitioning successfully into the civilian workforce without the added burden and stress of mounting debt.
“This is a golden opportunity for GCWJ to expand our existing services to women, particularly because of Vanguard’s deep commitment to providing financial, emotional, and spiritual assistance to veterans,” says Brent Theobald, director of government affairs at Vanguard University. “As the first full Yellow Ribbon university in Orange County that also houses a Veterans Resource Center, we are perfectly poised to understand and provide the services that female veterans require given their unique experiences in the military. Equipping them with the tools to overcome academic and social challenges during transition and build pathways to wholeness and independence is our goal.”

“This is a time of great stress for our military, as many service members face repeated combat deployments,” says Carrie Bollwinkle, executive director of the Employees Community Fund. “Because of their commitment to women and veterans, Vanguard was one of ten organizations that applied for the 2012 Crystal Vision Grant. We are confident that Vanguard will be successful in addressing these critical needs by leveraging all of their resources and expertise.”
For more information about the Global Center for Women at Vanguard University, visit http://www.vanguard.edu/gcwj/; for information about Vanguard’s Veterans Resource Center at Vanguard University, visit http://www.vanguard.edu/veterans/.
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ABOUT VANGUARD UNIVERSITY

Vanguard University (VU) is a regionally ranked, private, Christian university of liberal arts and professional studies. Located ten minutes from Newport Beach and an hour from Los Angeles, Vanguard equips students for a Spirit-empowered life of Christ-focused leadership and service. Vanguard is committed to academic excellence, boasting small class sizes that are designed to cultivate lasting professor-mentor relationships that enhance the learning process. Ranked annually by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top 10 colleges in the west since 2010, Accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), Vanguard offers more than 30 degrees and certificates through its undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies programs.

ABOUT THE EMPLOYEES COMMUNITY FUND OF BOEING CALIFORNIA

The Employees Community Fund of Boeing California (“ECF CA”) is a nonprofit legal entity made up solely of Boeing California employee contributions. Boeing employees contribute via payroll deductions to ECF CA which is a pooled fund model. A Board of Directors comprised of Boeing employee contributors then determines how the pooled funds will be invested in Southern California. Boeing pays for 100% of the administrative costs of the ECF CA program, so that every dollar employees’ donate is invested directly in Southern California communities.

The Crystal Vision Awards competitive grant-making program, created by ECF CA in 1990, is a special themed grant program of ECF CA. Since 1990, nearly $6.5 million in Crystal Vision grants have been awarded to 176 charitable agencies focusing on various programs such as youth mentoring, services to senior citizens, children and the homeless, veterans, environmental and arts education, and teacher effectiveness.
The purpose of the 2012 Crystal Vision grants fund is to engender creativity and innovation around the theme of “Veterans Transition” with the goal being to seed and/or grow nonprofits’ abilities to provide services to assist our veterans as they transition from military service to civilian life and employment, including the removal of barriers to this transition.